Progression
by AJrax The Author
Summary: Naruto is now a hero of the Hidden Leaf Village after defending it from Pain. Seeing how far he has come, Neji and Kiba want to avenge their losses to him, while Lee just wants a no-holds-barred spar. All three are looking to see how they match up against the ninja who has risen above them all at a very high level. (Two-Shot)
1. Three Options, One Decision

Disclaimer: The following is a non-profit, fan based fanfiction. Naruto and Naruto Shippuden are all owned by Viz Media, Studio Pierrot, TV Tokyo, and Mashashi Kishimoto. Please support the official release.

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Working hard and believing. Those two words come to mind when you think of the people who live in the Village Hidden In The Leaves. After their village was destroyed by Pain, they have spent all their time rebuilding the village that they love, a new hope and prosperity present within themselves thanks to the efforts of a single shinobi, who swooped in during the chaos and put it to rest. Speaking of that shinobi...

Naruto Uzumaki lay sprawled out on the grassy plain, panting hard with sweat pouring down his face and over his whiskered cheeks. Before him sat a tree with a huge gaping hole in the trunk, slightly steaming from impact from a hole that had spiral imprints.

"Okay... I think... I did good..." he panted to himself. He blinked his eyes as the sweat rolled into his sockets. Naruto, being the energetic person he was, still felt the need to train his Rasengan technique even after putting himself through the strain of fighting Pain not so long ago.

"Yeah, time for a break." He rose to his feet and brushed off the loose blades of grass that clung to his orange and black jumpsuit. "In fact, I think I could go for a bowl of ramen!"

Naruto headed out of the forest, jumping from tree branch to tree branch with an eager smile on his face. He quickly made haste back to the Village Hidden In The Leaves, landing on the dirt path that lined the ground and taking off at full speed on ground level to Ramen Icharaku, Naruto's favorite, and only, ramen bar in the entire Leaf village. He passed by many of his fellow villagers, who all waved to him or gave him a friendly wave or the occasional ask for an autograph, which Naruto always hurriedly and nervously refused. He was still not used to the village trading in their former scorn and indifference of him for their new-found praise and understanding.

In the back of the ramen bar, an elderly man and his daughter, both dressed in aprons and cooking hats, were busily preparing the food they hoped to sell to many customers in the coming day. Almost on cue, Naruto made his way into the front, sat down on one of the stools and called to them.

"Yo, Old Man, Ayame! I need a bowl over here!" He cried.

"Ah, Naruto, good to see you!" Teuchi said, coming out of the back and rubbing his hands together. "You're just in time too. We just prepared some fresh noodles and broth."

"Heh, lucky me!" Naruto said, smiling his trademark smile as Ayame come from the back with a big bowl of ramen for the young ninja to slurp down. Naruto thanked both the old man and his daughter for his meal, and wasted no time in digging in on what he thought was the foodstuff of gods.

Not too far away from the hyperactive ninja, and walking in the same direction as the shop, were four other young ninja, two older than Naruto, and two the same age. They were: a boy with a bowl-cut and sporting a green spandex suit and freakishly huge eyebrows; a boy with long brown hair tied into a ponytail with pale eyes and wearing a white robe; a boy with short brown hair with red marks on his cheeks wearing a black leather outfit and riding a huge, white dog; and a boy wearing a hooded green jacket with his collar covering his mouth and his black spectacles covering his eyes.

"Lee, for the last time, you cannot come with me tomorrow on my mission. It's A-ranked and only Jonin are allowed to partake in it," the pale eyed boy said to the boy with the bowl-cut, a rather frustrated statement as well.

"Surely Lady Hokage can reconsider, Neji! I want to prove that my skills are good enough to make me eligible to become Jonin rank!"

"I already said no, Lee! And Lady Hokage's answer will be the same," Neji sternly replied.

"But this is a perfect opportunity for the Hidden Leaf's Handsome Devil!" Lee cried, his rather large eyes hiding a small, determined fire in them.

"Cut it out already! You guys sound like a married couple!," the boy with the red marks interjected. "We're supposed to be taking a break right now, not listening to this noise. Right, Akamaru?" He asked his dog, who gave a bark of approval.

"Aren't you forgetting somebody, Kiba?" The boy with the spectacles chillingly said, making Kiba groan.

"I meant you too, Shino. Damn," Kiba cursed. "Quit being moody."

"I will stop when you start acknowledging my existence," Shino responded firmly, his spectacles flashing in the sunlight, as if to make his statement more defined. "I'm your teammate after all."

Kiba merely scoffed at Shino's needy behavior. "And what about you two?" Kiba looked to Lee and Neji, who were still arguing over taking time to spar.

"Guys?" Kiba asked, to no avail as they kept chatting away. He sighed, now ironically feeling the same way that Shino did. The hooded ninja also took no time in rubbing it in.

"Now do you see?" Was all he said, deadpan as ever even with the somewhat satisfaction he felt inside.

"Don't start again," Kiba growled, brushing off his feeling of being ignored as the boys all came to the front of the ramen bar.

Naruto finished his bowl by slurping down the rest of the soup, a big grin on his face, rubbing his belly full of ramen and letting out a sigh of pleasure. The smell of dried sweat and noodles instantly hit Kiba's sensitive and accurate nose, as his orange clad comrade stepped out of the same and in front of him and the others. As he did, Lee had an idea slowly form in the back of his rather simple mind, recalling his talk with Neji involving the Chunin Exams, as well as his knowledge of Naruto's most recent training.

"Well, if it isn't the big hero," Kiba said, somewhat sarcastically yet glad at the same time.

"Oh, hey, guys, how's it going?"

"Naruto, it is very good to see you!" Lee said, immediately approaching his blonde friend. "And this is a most great chance for the both of us to prove our skills!"

"Er, what are you talking about, Bushy Brows?" A confused Naruto asked, calling Lee by his infamous nickname.

"You see, I have been wanting to show the lengths of my abilities, and seeing you has given me a great idea! I challenge you to an all out, no restriction spar!"

"A spar? Right now?" Naruto asked.

"Yes yes yes! There is no other person I could ask until you have done so!"

"Hey, what about us?! Man, this ignoring thing is really getting old already!," Kiba said, annoyed.

"I understand how you feel," Shino sarcastically commented, once again readjusting his spectacles. Kiba's face fell angrily as he simply told Shino to shut up.

"Well, I don't know, Lee. I just got done training in the forest and I kinda wanted to go home..." Naruto admitted, his eyes drifting to behind his green clad friend.

"Oh, but Naruto, I wish to see how powerful you've become after the training you received before Pain invaded the village!" Lee said, startling Naruto and redirecting his attention.

"You mean my Sage Mode?" Naruto asked as he scratched the back on his head. "Well, it's not really something I can just pull out to spar with somebody. It's only for life-or-death battles really."

"This Sage Mode must be especially powerful if you were able to use it against Pain. There is no doubt about that," Neji said.

"Yes, and that is exactly why I must test my abilities against it!" Lee cried, his eyes filling with fire. "After all, we are still due to have an all out, no restrictions battle!"

"Well, I gotta admit, Bushy Brows, so have I," Naruto responded, recalling the interest they both had in fighting each other established during their time as genin, more specifically when they first met in the Chunin Exams.

"Hey hey, hold on a second!" Kiba then interjected, getting off Akamaru and jogging up to the two. "If anybody is gonna fight Naruto all out, it's gonna be me!"

"What, you and me? Didn't I already beat you once though?" Naruto smirked, remembering how he beat Kiba in the Chunin Exams.

"Grr, that was a fluke and you know it! If it weren't for that fart hitting my face, you would have gotten knocked out!" Kiba barked, his cheeks going slightly red at remembering his embarrassing defeat.

"There are no 'ifs' in battle, Kiba. You lost to Naruto; it is a fact," Shino commented.

"Stay out of this, bug lover!" Kiba cried over his shoulder to his nosy teammate as his fangs showed prominently, Shino not showing much care. "Anyways, I'm _way_ more deserving of fighting him than _you _are, Lee!"

"That is not true! My passion to battle Naruto has burned most bright ever since the two of us met!" Lee argued.

"Yeah, well I actually fought him in the Exams, so that means we need to have a rematch!" Kiba fired back.

"Enough, you two!" Neji commanded, causing both Kiba and Lee to quiet themselves. It appeared that the senior ranked ninja was going to assert some sort of authority as he stepped closer to the three.

"If there is anybody that deserves any type of spar or rematch, it should be me," Neji said, putting that possibility aside. "Naruto, you and I fought in the finals of the Chunin Exams, and unlike Kiba and Lee here, I came within a fraction of defeating you."

"Hmph. I guess you have a point there," Naruto responded.

"Get in line, Neji! I fought Naruto in the preliminaries before that match!"

"Yes, and as you stated, you lost to a fart," Neji smirked, showing his nowadays rare cocky side.

"And you lost to him in the finals, so what makes you better than me?!" Kiba barked.

"Because I am clearly higher above you in terms of both skill and rank!"

"I thought that you wanted to remain in good shape for your mission tomorrow, Neji," Lee interjected.

"This is different, Lee. Naruto and I have been fated to do battle once again."

"I thought you gave up all that fate and destiny crap after the Chunin Exams," Kiba said as he gave Neji a look that said "you're really being hypocritical right now, you jerk."

"I did. However, I still believe there are things locked into the flow of time, and that includes a second opportunity to fight Naruto."

"Both of you, please! I have never received a chance to fight Naruto one-on-one," Lee said, throwing his hat in the current debate, only to receive a collective "You're not a part of this!" by both Kiba and Neji.

The three ninja soon engaged in a three-way deadlock with one another as Naruto and Shino both looked on, Akamaru as well, who was sitting off to the side and resting. Naruto was starting to feel bored at the debacle in front of him, while Shino seemed to stay the same in his feelings, yet hid a disinterest in him as well. On top of that, of course, was the fact that he was not considered to spar with Naruto among Neji, Kiba and Lee.

"Hey, uh, Shino, mind saying something? I feel like I'm stuck between a rock and hard place here," Naruto said to Shino from afar, the tension of the still squabbling shinobi starting to make him feel uncomfortable.

"I can try," Shino replied, easing Naruto's being a little bit. "All of you, stop for a moment," he said to Lee, Kiba, and Neji... but of course, they ignored him. Naruto could not even get them to stop, so what other option did they have?

Shino answered that question in the form of releasing the insects he had submerged in his body and clothes and letting them scatter around the feet of his three bickering friends. Suffice to say, they all spread apart and ended their debacle. Shino gained their attention quickly, as well as Naruto's, as he went along with his proposition.

"Since all three of you wish to fight Naruto one-on-one, there is only one way to fairly decide his opponent," Shino explained. "Neji, Kiba, and Lee will all battle in a three combatant match. The winner will then go on to fight Naruto."

"That's actually not a bad idea," Naruto said. "As long as I get some time to rest, I'm all for this."

"Do you also agree not to hold back?!" Lee asked excitedly.

"Well, maybe. If I'm fighting you that is, Bushy Brow. Neji and Kiba might be a different story..."

"What, are you saying that we can't handle you at full power?!" Kiba barked, both he and Neji shooting Naruto a glare.

"Maybe. Or maybe you guys'll be more of a challenge. We'll have to see, now won't we?" Naruto said arrogantly, waving off Kiba and Neji's glares.

"You're gonna eat those words, tough guy!" Kiba added. "So, when are we gonna do this exactly?" Kiba then said aloud, calming himself down.

"Considering my mission tomorrow, I suggest we meet at Training Ground Seven in the late afternoon," Neji said.

"Sounds good to me," Kiba agreed.

"I agree as well!" Lee said, smiling and giving a thumbs up to Neji's now confirmed suggestion.

"Then it's settled. Now if you excuse me, I'm bushed and I really could use some sleep," Naruto said, yawning into his hand. "See you guys tomorrow. Hope you bring your A game!" the blonde ninja conclude, putting his hands behind his head and walking towards home, the other three ninja doing the same as Lee, Neji, and Kiba with Akamaru on his tail went their separate ways, looking to partake in some last minute training in preparation for the coming day.

And as for Shino...

"Once again, I'm left out of the equation. Even though I was the one to even give them the idea on how to settle their problem." the hooded ninja sighed, making his own way home in the meantime.

Naruto, a ninja who has grown tremendously over the years will now face one of his comrades, who has also strive to improve upon themselves and reach his level, a level they all know is far and between anything they have accomplished so far in their own respective lives as shinobi.

The next afternoon, Naruto, Neji, Lee, and Kiba met in Training Ground Seven to see how far they had all come, and if the latter of the four had a chance of surpassing the one former...

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**Finally, finally, FINALLY, I have a brand new story up and ready for you guys to read! This was meant to come out much earlier, but as it turns out, I am in a really busy part of my life right now (the busy "get your butt ready to graduate high school and go off to college" part) so I had some constraints here and there, but beside of all that, here it is. :) This originally was going to be another one shot, but then I decided that I wanted a lot more stuff to be thrown into this little concept, more than one chapter can suffice. So its going to be a two shot instead. Oh yeah, and just to clear this up: yes, part of my inspiration for this story came from a certain video on YouTube that came out a certain amount of time ago. If you know what I'm talking about, then you get a gold star. :P. Now then, on with the rest of this epic tale which I will tell the next time a chapter is up!~**

**Read and Review, AJrax The Author**


	2. The Solution

Disclaimer: The following is a non-profit, fan based fanfiction. Naruto and Naruto Shippuden are all owned by Viz Media, Studio Pierrot, TV Tokyo, and Mashashi Kishimoto. Please support the official release.

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The Hidden Leaf Village was abnormally quiet. Even villages made up of normal people and who also host trained ninja who serve as military can have their boring days, and even as the said normal people and ninja are helping to rebuild their village.

But while the village was in a standstill, the standstill going on in Training Ground Seven was on another degree entirely. Naruto, watching from the side and laying against a tree, and the other three: Lee, Neji, and Kiba. The three ninja, and one ninken, were spread out on the grass, keeping check of each other. The fight had not necessarily begun, yet no one was willing to make a move until anyone else did. Also, given Lee's intensity, he suggested to the other two that this spar would be all out. Sadly, neither Neji, Kiba, or Naruto could really convince him otherwise, so they agreed. Meanwhile, Naruto was sort of getting impatient with them all.

"Hey, come on, are you guys going spar or just stand there all day?" Naruto asked, yawning into his hand. The blonde shinobi got himself hyped for the eventual battle against one of his comrades, but with the way they were going about it, being all complacent and everything, he was starting to lose interest. He would have thought Kiba of all people would have already rushed in and-

"Okay, enough of this! I'm gonna clobber the both of you! Let's go Akamaru!" Kiba then shouted, Akamaru barking in response as they both rushed towards Lee and Neji. And with that, Naruto confirmed his assumption, as well as getting a laugh out of it.

Neji settled into his Gentle Fist fighting stance. "Hmph. A little brash aren't we? You're almost as bad as-"

"ALRIGHT!" Lee yelled, firing burning in this eyes as he too sped down the training grounds towards Kiba. Neji merely kept his stance and let a drop of sweat roll down the side of his face as Lee and Kiba met in a clash.

"Haaa!" They both kiaied, Kiba's elbow colliding with Lee's foot. The two then spread apart and come back together, Kiba and Lee exchanging blows, both of their taijutsu styles being wild and hard to the skin; however, given Lee's training, his blows were landing much harder on Kiba's body; the young Inuzuka clansmen was finding it difficult to land his own blows considering the difference in power between him and Lee, as well as the fact that his blows weren't as effective as Lee's.

Kiba jumped back, gripping his arm as it and the rest of hi_s body _was aching, already forming bruises and lumps under his black leather clothes._ Damn. Lee's as tough as ever. Might not be a good idea to stick to close combat with him_, the Inuzuka clansman thought as the green clad ninja he was thinking of had already began exchanging blows with Neji.

Back when they were just starting out in Team Gai, Neji would always beat Lee in their sparring matches. It was effortless, and Neji would always taunt Lee for even trying. Their teammate Tenten even supported him for it, as she was and still is one of his biggest admirers. Even so, Lee never listened to Neji's talk of giving up or accepting fate, and continued to push on. Several years after those simple days of Neji's arrogance and Lee's determination, it seemed that the two were finally starting to meet each others level.

Neji was a Jonin and Lee was still a Chunin, so even now it could be said that Neji surpassed his teammate. Still, the green clad Goken specialist and the white eyed Juken specialist went at each other, Lee's punches and kicks being met with Neji's palm strikes, and while Neji proved to be better at blocking, dodging, and countering Lee, Lee himself was faster, and landed his strikes deeper. Neji, for the first time in his life, felt himself being challenged by Lee, and Lee could sense it as well.

"It appears that my hard work has payed off after all," he simple said, catching Neji's arm as he had tried to shoot a palm into Lee's stomach.

"I agree," the Hyuga responded, face set in stone. The two came apart once more.

It seemed that all three boys were at a standstill. They were all just beating each other into a pulp at this point. Then again, they had not begun to live up to Lee's side of the deal, meaning they had not begun to go all out yet. And as if in sync, all three of them decided that now was the time to turn things up.

Kiba grinned and flicked a food pill into Akamaru's mouth. The dog ate it with ease, as his fur began to turn a nasty red. The dog then turned into an exact replica of Kiba himself and stood next to his partner. "Ninja Art Of Beast Mimicry: All Fours Jutsu!" Kiba cried out, both him and Akamaru setting all fours on the ground as their nails grew longer and their bodies seeped with feral chakra.

Lee crossed his arms together gathered his chakra and focused it into an enormous concentrated power; his skin started to turn red as he accessed the power of the Eight Gates. "Third Gate: Gate Of Life open!" he cried, his body surging with an abundance of chakra and pure force.

Neji, unlike his two comrades, did not have a fancy transformation to unveil. He simple got into his Juken stance and activated his Byakugan. Regardless of that, he was just as ready to give everything he had.

"Whoa. They're getting serious now," Naruto commented from the side, now wide awake and staring in awe of his fellow ninja.

No more time was wasted as they all sprang into battle.

"Fang Over Fang!" Kiba shouted and he and Akamaru sprang forward and spun into tornadoes. They homed in on Rock Lee, who was so fast to dodge, he disappeared out of sight, and reappeared behind them, catching them both in the ribs with a Leaf Hurricane that sent them hurdling away.

Neji joined the Fray as he tried to close Lee's chakra points and hinder his Eight Gates useless. But even with his precision, Lee was simply unhittable thanks to the power of the Gate Of Life.

_I've got to find some form of weakness_, Neji thought, believing that Lee could only be hit in a single moment in time where he could alienate his body patterns. When that would come is the problem he now faced.

Kiba and Akamaru recovered themselves and decided to take things a step further. "Man Beast Transformation Combo: Two Headed Wolf!" He cried out as he and Akamaru were both surrounded by a puff of smoke, and from that smoke rose a giant white furred wolf with two heads.

"Wolf Fang Over Fang!" The two then shot forward using an advanced version of the Fang Over Fang, ripping up the ground in their path. Neji and Lee leapt apart so that they could avoid this massive blow, with Lee being the first to counter attack after the two headed beast stopped themselves. Shooting himself up like a rocket, Lee caught the beast in the chin with a kick, snapping its head up the sky.

"Leaf Hot Wind!" Lee cried, following up with a powerful kick to the side of the wolf's head, hard enough to dispel the transformation as it disappeared in a puff of smoke back into Kiba and Akamaru, who were now both positioned on the ground and stinging from Lee's Leaf Hot Wind. Lee measured his own bearings as he too went back to ground level and surprisingly he was not showing as much strain as he had done in the past when he used the first three Gates. That was because after years of improving his control and his power, the Gates' strain was now significantly lessened.

Even so, he kept it in the back of his head to try not to overdo himself with more Gates or even use the Hidden Lotus, for fear that he might collapse like the last time. Though given his impulsive nature, it was a hard thing to do.

Neji saw his chance to attack as soon as Lee had landed on the ground, moving directly in front of him. The smallest body movements indicated that he had a small window of opportunity to pounce.

"Eight Trigrams: Air Palm!" Neji bundled some chakra in his palm and shot it at Lee, who was fast enough to at least put his arms up to block, but the blast still blew him away some distance, while he kept his stance rock solid on the ground, his sandals skidding the ground as he traveled back. Settling in another Juken stance, Neji saw the Eight Trigrams form on the ground in his mind.

"You are in my divination," Neji said aloud as he sprang forward before Lee could even move.

"Eight Trigrams: Sixty Four Palms! Two palms!" Neji shot both his hands at Lee to perform two strikes to his chest, but was stopped as Lee shot his own hand out and clocked Neji in the jaw, already stopping his assault before it could begin.

Neji himself was blown back but managed to land on his feet, but barely. And before Lee could try and follow up his attack, he found himself deactivating the Gates, but not by choice. "Huh? What is happening?!" a confused Lee cried.

"It seems that my first move was a success," Neji commented.

"What do you mean?" Lee asked, the strain of using the Gates now pouring more fluidly into his body as he clutched his stomach.

"I wasn't trying to close off your points with my Sixty Four Palms; my Air Palm was enough to pinpoint the points in your arms and stop the flow of chakra required to keep your inner Gates active."

"If that is so, why did you even try to attempt to attack me again afterwards?" Lee questioned.

"Because I knew that if I were to take advantage, you would have still been fast enough to counter-attack," Neji said, slightly grinning and rubbing the cheek that Lee had hit. "And to be honest, I misjudged your ability. You've improved a lot, Lee."

"Oh, uh, thank you Neji," Lee said, sort of thrown off by Neji's sudden praise.

"Heh. That's all fine and dandy. But you guys better shape up!" said a voice that made himself relevant by appearing in between the two, that voice belong to Kiba with Akamaru by this side. "Because we're still fighting, and I'm not even close to stopping now!" Kiba said.

"We have all definitely been pushing our limits, but I'm sure even you must be a little winded Kiba," Neji said, grudgingly getting to his feet as he noticed that Kiba was slightly shaking and still hurting from Lee's attack. Even Akamaru was panting at a much hurried and stressed pace.

"Winded? No way! I haven't even gotten started! I've been holding back against you two!" Kiba arrogantly said.

"Holding back? But did we not agree to not holding back for this match?" Lee asked.

"Well, uh, I w-wasn't, but-"

"So that really was your true potential? If that's so, I'm afraid that you're lacking a bit in terms of skill," Neji shot back, remembering how fast he and Akamaru went down against Lee.

"Grr, shut up Neji!" Kiba said, now getting hot and bothered in his trademark way. His cheeks were even starting to blush, much like Hinata's. Akamaru even shook his head at his master's behavior.

Meanwhile back on the side of the training field, Naruto's excitement was slowly starting to slip away once again. Now that the three had stopped fighting and once again started bickering (well, to be fair, Kiba was the only one really bickering at all), the orange clad Jinchuriki figured that maybe this wasn't such a good idea.

"Alright, stop!" He said, now walking over to Lee, Neji and Kiba with his hands behind his head. "Look, are you guys gonna finish what you started or what? This whole arguing thing is really getting stupid," he bluntly addressed.

"Well sorry, o mighty savior, but this isn't gonna be finished in a snap!" Kiba argued, once again poking fun at the title the people of the village now gave Naruto.

"Please Naruto, we are almost finished! I swear that a single victor will come out of this battle!" Lee said more sympathetically towards his comrade.

"As much as I want to agree with Lee, I still believe that for the most part we've reached our limit."

"Oh come on!" Kiba said, getting bothered yet again.

Naruto sighed. "Well, I'm pretty much done with this entire idea."

"Don't back out now, Naruto, we're far from done!"

"I agree with Kiba, we must continue!" Lee said.

Neji, being the less enthusiastic of the four, even less enthusiastic than Naruto was at the moment, was ready to put this to rest. However, being the smartest of the four, he came up with a new idea. An idea that he believed that the intellectual Shino, the person who thought up the original three-way spar, would agree with as well.

"This thought just occurred to me," Neji said, speaking directly to Naruto as he, Lee, and Kiba listened. "If we truly want to decide on how far we have come since our days as Genin, and how we match up to you Naruto, who has risen above us at a significantly high level... then you should be more than capable to take all three of us at once."

"What?!" Naruto, Kiba, and Lee cried at once.

"Yes. Although it would not be a one-on-one duel, it will still give us an opportunity to test our abilities against you while giving yourself a challenge as well. Especially considering we have already proven that we provide ourselves with enough challenge," Neji concluded.

"Wait, so what you're saying is I should take you all on at once?" Naruto said.

"But Neji, I wanted to fight Naruto one-on-one!" Lee argued.

"Yeah, me too! I don't need your guys' help!" Kiba said, poking a thumb to his chest.

Naruto thought for a moment on Neji's proposal. "You know what, Neji. You're right," he said, causing both Kiba to face-vault while Lee looked confused and Neji was a bit thrown back at Naruto's reply.

"Yeah, that's perfect actually. I could use a good fight like that right now. Besides... it'll take a lot for you guys to keep up. I might just be too strong for you," Naruto said with a fox-like grin.

"What the hell are you saying?" Kiba said, now recovering himself. "Don't get big-headed! We're not pushovers! Especially me!"

"Oh you're not? Let's put that to the test," Naruto said. "Neji, lets go with your idea. But, to be safe, lets go somewhere outside the village, so that we can have a little more freedom in going all out. Alright?"

"Well, I suppose that will do, as long as we do not have to hold back," Lee said.

"Yeah yeah, whatever. By myself or with others, I'm still gonna beat you silly," Kiba grudgingly agreed.

"That sounds applicable. Now with that settled, we will meet in one hour, so that myself, Lee, Kiba, and Akamaru can have time to recover from our previous battle."

"No problem. Just be ready not to stand around for another hour afterwards, 'cause I'm done with that," Naruto said, almost whining. Neji could not help but smirk whilst Lee was looking fired up as usual and Kiba was simply imagining himself finally beating Naruto.

The four boys and one dog once again went their separate ways again, with a conclusion to their test of merit hopefully on the horizon.

_- One Hour Later, On The Outskirts Of The Hidden Leaf Village -_

The sun was setting low to the sky, letting off an orange musky light that sprayed over the open field near what was dubbed the "Forest Of Quiet Movement", located a far distance from the Hidden Leaf Village. Naruto stood in the center, arms crossed and eyes forward, as Lee and Neji facing him down, both in their Goken and Juken stances respectively; Kiba and Akamaru were already using their All Fours Jutsu, with Akamaru also being a clone of Kiba.

"Just to make things clear: we may be ganging up on him, but we don't have to work together! It's every man for himself. Got it?!" Kiba barked.

"Fine," Neji said.

"Okay then! I would prefer that anyway!" Lee said, fired up as usual.

"Okay, bring it on!" Naruto belted out, channeling the amount of natural energy he had saved up prior to his combatants arriving to enter his Sage Mode, his eyes outlined with a thick orange coating as his eyes turned yellow with a black rectangular iris, like that of a toad.

"Third Gate: Gate Of Life, open!" Lee cried out, channeling the Gates once more, as Neji simply activated his Byakugan and the duo of Kiba and Akamaru simply tensed in their stance.

Then as if a hurricane suddenly waned its way throughout the area, Naruto's three opponents made their way over.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto cried, making a cross sign with his fingers as literally one thousand more of him appeared in a puff of smoke and meet the others head on. Each of the clones felt the sting of what Lee, Neji and Kiba were packing: Neji effortlessly cycled through normal Juken strikes and Air Palms; Lee evaporated his opponent with the power of his strikes laced with the Gate Of Life's force; Kiba and Akamaru swept up the remaining clones with a series of Fang Over Fangs.

"Well, that didn't work," Naruto said almost sarcastically, as this ploy was a standard Naruto move; he used the Shadow Clones to analyze their fighting styles and so he could come up with a solution to beat them. Given his knowledge of his comrades and the time spent with them, it was actually quite simple for him to think of a few strategies to outdo their abilities...

Naruto summoned more Shadow Clones as they surrounded all three boys again. This time, instead of laying back, he went into along with his clones to take on this peers one by one.

"Eight Trigrams: Air Palm!" Neji fired palms left and right around his foes, his Byakugan tightened on his face like a mask. "Eight Trigrams: Palm Rotation!" He followed up by spinning in place, creating a huge blue chakra dome around him as they were repelled by its force. Naturally, Neji saw the real Naruto coming from a mile away, not that the Byakugan was really needed for that. Neji then pulled out some kunai and flung them at the orange clad ninja, who pulled out his own kunai and blocked them all with ease as he continued to speed forward.

"You're very predictable!" Neji taunted his comrade. "And you are also in my divination!" Neji said, settling into a stance as he once again attempted his Sixty-Four Palms technique. Naruto simply stopped in his tracks as Neji came forward. He literally let Neji hit him with all of hi strikes. "Two Palms! Four Palms! Eight Palms! Sixteen Palms! Thirty-Two Palms! Sixty-Four Palms!" Neji finished his combo only to see that Naruto was merely another clone that puffed into smoke upon the end of his barrage.

"Now!" Neji heard from below, as the original Naruto sprang up from the ground, similar to how he did in the two's fight at the Chunin Exams. This time, Neji was fast enough to dodge, noting the similarity instantly.

"Even more predicta-agh!" Neji tried to say, but after the blow missed, he felt a surge of pain wash over his chin and jaw area, causing his head to snap up and his eyes to close.

Naruto had used his Frog Kumite technique to purposefully throw Neji off his guard. Still in the air, Naruto summonsed two clones; the clones drove down towards Neji and grabbed his shoulders, pinning his arms to the ground. As Neji reopened his eyes, he saw that the real Naruto falling towards him; Naruto had his foot out as his stomped on Neji's stomach and held a kunai to his throat.

"Heh. Well?" Naruto asked.

"Ugh. I surrender," Neji said, admitting defeat. "That certainly was surprising," he added, as Naruto dispelled his clones and allowed him to stand.

"Yep. Now that's one down, and two more to go," Naruto said, looking over to Kiba and Lee, still fighting off clones. Naruto sped off in his direction as Neji decided to observe from the side. _I guess I have proven my worth. You win again, Naruto. But lets see if your winning streak continues_, Neji contemplated to himself.

The clones on Kiba's side had been all wiped out. "Ha! Here comes the hero!" Kiba laughed as he spotted Naruto coming from the corner of his eye. "Akamaru, with me!" he commanded Akamaru as they spun into another Fang Over Fang and headed straight towards the Sage Mode user. Naruto was able to sidestep the two as they smacked into the ground and propelled himself up into the air.

"Grr, get back here!" Kiba said, losing his focus as he and Akamaru followed Naruto in the air.

"Now for a super special technique I'm been saving!" Naruto said in an almost sarcastic tone as he made a basic hand seal and turned himself around mid-air.

"Ah! Dammit, not again!" Kiba cried, covering his face as he thought Naruto was going to fart in his face again. However, Naruto turned himself back around and fell towards Kiba, summoning another clone as they both layed into Kiba and Akamaru with fierce strikes to their stomachs.

"Take this!" Naruto and his clone finished by spinning himself forward and landing an axe kick on their heads, sending them straight back into the ground. Kiba and Akamaru landed face first on the ground, also similar to the end of their fight with Naruto in the Chunin Exams.

"Alright! That's two down and one to go!" Naruto said, landing next to his downed comrades. Kiba growled as he and Akamaru rose to their feet, still having enough chakra left to fight some more."

"Tch. Not yet!" Kiba cried. "Man Beast Transformation Combo: Two Headed Wolf!" Kiba said as he and Akamaru joined together to once again become a giant two headed wolf.

"Well. This'll be a little more challenging," Naruto said to himself as the wolf pounced on him. Naruto leapt away from it and summoned clones to help to subdue it. The clones jumped on the wolf's back and tried to hold it down. The clones grabbed its limbs and even started pulling on its ears.

"Gah! Dammit, Naruto, you and your stupid tricks!" Kiba yelled internally as the wolf thrashed about and tried to get the clones off him, but they surprisingly had a strong grip on his body. Kiba was now starting to see red.

"That is it! Wolf Fang Over Fang!" Kiba cried, shooting straight forward as the clones were shaken off. However, due to Kiba's rage, he could not stop himself as he kept spiraling forward; Naruto sidestepped the living tornado as it spun out of control and into the forest. It crashed into the trees and upon impact, Kiba and Akamaru returned to their normal forms, leaving them lying in a mass of broken trees, their clothes and hair covered in twigs and leaves.

"Okay... you win..." Kiba said, sitting up and rubbing his head. "Grr, I'll win next time for sure, Naruto," he said to his somewhat rival.

"Well as long as you bring your A game and don't slip up again, then sure," Naruto said, shooting Kiba a trademark grin. Akamaru barked and Kiba actually grinned back instead of getting upset, knowing that his comrade was just being playful with him. Akamaru then barked again to Kiba, telling his partner that it was time that they rest. Kiba and Akamaru moved away from the broken mess they had caused.

"Now, the last one I'm fighting is Bushy Brow!" Naruto said, turning around to see that the field was empty. "

Wait... where'd he go? I could have swore that he was here," he added, looking over the side of the field where Rock Lee was last seen; that part of the field was empty as well. In retrospect, it would be plausible that Lee would have dispatched of Naruto's clones eons again and decided to hide"Hey, come out Bushy Brow! I know you're hiding!"

"That is correct!" Lee said, as he suddenly appeared behind Naruto, still in his Gate Of Life form.

The young student of the Sage Toad was then swept up into the air as he turned around and caught a kick in the chin by Lee. The kick sent him upwards at least twelve feet off the ground, as Lee once again caught up with him with a simple step. Naruto quickly flexed his limbs and shielded himself from Lee's hits as he juggled him midair, hitting him once and following his body to hit him again in a blaring chain of attack. Naruto's defenses only helped him so much, as the blows still hurt worse than the time Sakura sent him seventy feet away with a single punch.

"Now to finish it!" Lee said, grabbing Naruto from behind and wrapping his undone wrist tape around his body. _Since I cannot use the Hidden Lotus, the Primary Lotus will have to do! _

"Oh crap, no!" Naruto said, trying to undo himself from the bindings of Lee, but to no avail.

"Primary Lotus!" Lee and Naruto sped downwards as they were set to smash into the ground headfirst. Naruto's only resolve was cutting the tape that bound him with a hidden kunai he had in his sleeve. He used his freed hands to form the clone seal and summon a multitude of clones that made that softened the impact of the Primary Lotus. Instead of hitting solid ground, Naruto and Lee made contact with the backs of several other Narutos, which thankfully held their forms for a little long that usual before exploding into smoke.

Naruto and Lee jumped out of the giant smoke cloud they had created and faced down each other on the opposite side of the field. Naruto was starting to feel the fatigue of battle while Lee's strain was also causing him great pain. Naruto's jumpsuit was torn and ragged while Lee's green flak jacket was simmering and had small cuts layered in from the very essence of the Gate Of Life form.

"Now I shall go even further..." Lee said aloud, the strain not even crossing his mind. "The fifth Gate... Gate Of Limit, open!" Lee had inadvertently skipped over just opening the fourth gate, the Gate Of Pain, in order to combat at his highest level. Now this wish of fighting Naruto all out was sure to become reality.

"Man. You're getting really into this, Bushy Brow," Naruto commented. _If I want to beat the Eight Gates, I gotta use Frog Kumite especially. Maybe even the Rasengan if I have to, _he thought.

"Of course I am! Now, let us continue!" Lee, in a flash, reappeared in front of Naruto and started launching off rapid punches and kicks.

Naruto was barely able to keep up with the speed of the attacks and ended up mostly blocking, parrying, and barely dodging all of them. He then ducked under a huge roundhouse kick, which gave him some time to conjure a Shadow Clone. Both he and the Shadow Clone threw a right hook at Lee's face, who was fast enough to dodge. The impact still hit his face and stunned him for a moment, giving Naruto the chance to sweep him off his feet and have the clone follow up with a shot to Lee's back that sent him back a few feet. Naruto and the clone then started to form a Rasengans in his hands. He held onto blue orb as he dashed forward and tried to stick Lee with it, but the Hidden Leaf's Handsome Devil caught himself and flashed himself away from the impact. Lee appeared in the air and spun his body towards Naruto in attempt to land two axe kicks on the back of his neck. Naruto caught Lee's ankles using his advanced senses; Lee used the momentum he had left to place his hands on the ground and spin himself out of Naruto's grip and landing right back on his feet.

"Leaf Hurricane!" Lee tried for two more kicks as one was dodged and the other was blocked; Naruto grabbed Lee's leg as the blow landed and threw him to the side.

Lee caught his footing and settled himself back into his Goken stance. _This is not working. He is finding a counter to each one of my attacks_, Lee thought to himself, becoming frustrated.

_Okay then... I will try something else: an attack used by Gai Sensei! _Lee then formulated, and the attack he was referring to would need to be done at the right moment so it could have maximum impact.

Naruto concentrated and watched Lee's movements as he started to move at a fast pace around him, going in a circle. _What is he doing? Is he trying to catch me off guard?_ Naruto thought as he saw the dust Lee was kicking up rising higher in the air. _Okay yeah, I see what he's doing. The same thing he used against Gaara. I think I have an answer for that. _Naruto thought, quickly summoning a clone and forming a Rasengan in his hand. Lee immediately noticed what Naruto was doing and sprang up from the circle he made, the dirt and grass not fast enough to stop dissipating even as he stopped moving.

"Dynamic Entry!" Lee cried out, emulating his teacher Gai as he shot downwards, right foot extended like an arrow homing in on its target.

"Got it!" Naruto said, as he finished making his Rasengan in the nick of time. And in what seemed like a millisecond, the two ninja clashed in a glorious fashion.

Lee's Dynamic Entry collided with Naruto's outstretched Rasengan, which exploded on impact and blew both Naruto and Lee back. Lee finally exited his Gates form, his skin turning back to its light complexion. Naruto also exited his Sage Mode, the yellow and orange disappearing and his eye color being reset to its natural ocean blue.

Naruto landed hard on his back, laying outstretched on the grass below, while Lee landed on his side and rolled to a stop. Both ninja were flat out exhausted from their encounter; there was no doubt that Lee held the biggest challenge for the hero of the Hidden Leaf Village. Neji even pointed this out from the sidelines, much to the chagrin of Kiba. They both then re-entered the field in order to help their comrades off the ground, Neji helping his teammate and Kiba his rival. They all then agreed it was time to go home.

"Geez. You two really overdid it, you know that?" Kiba said as the five traveled through the Forest Of Quiet Movement.

"Well hey, we said we were going to go all out," Naruto shakingly said. "Right Lee?"

"Y-Yes, that is true. And I have no regrets at all," Lee said, almost passing out on Neji's shoulder at this point. "Next time, we shall have an even greater match."

"I think that 'next time' might have to hold on for a while, Lee. Remember that we still have our duties to help rebuild the village," Neji reminded his overenthusiastic teammate. "And besides... I would like to have my own battle against Naruto as well. Specifically Naruto and myself _only_."

"Yeah, well get in line, because I call dibs this time on the next guy Naruto fights. Isn't that right, hero?" Kiba asked the man in question.

Naruto sighed. "To be honest, I really don't care right now. I just really need to eat some ramen and then take a nap," Naruto sluggishly said. His three comrades could not help but snicker at the response that only he could spit out.

So in the end, all three of Naruto's comrades proved to be a bigger challenge to him than they were to be in the past, some better than others. Even so, the only thing that was left to be done was to continue to improve. So they could once again come together to test their limits and push them further still. For as long as they could.

* * *

**Man, I can't believe it took me a month to finish this story. Yeah, so anyways, you can tell that I sort of rushed myself a little and I apologize for that. But even so, I am still proud of what I've written and hopefully you'll find it enjoyable to read. That is the point of writing these stories after all. So now that Progression is done, I'm going to try and see if I can write a full fledged story again. I have a bunch of ideas floating around in my brain that I'm dying to try out. Oh yeah, and me wanting to start a brand new full story is also I sort of rushed myself too... but again, I hope you enjoy. Here's to the next story! :D Oh yeah, and sorry for making so many allusions to the Chunin Exams. I couldn't help it, its sort of an integral storytelling piece of this fic. lol**

**Read And Review, AJrax The Author**


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